Pride, Powerlifting, and Practice
by Jewell Trim
Summary: Elizabeth goes to her first practice working under Coach Darcy. It seems there are few things going on beside weight attempts and squats. Who is scheming? Who is pining? Who is keeping secrets? Sequel to Pride and Powerlifting


Darcy would never attribute his inability to concentrate on stretching to his wanting to see a certain brunette. No, because he wasn't like Charles or Richard who fell in love constantly. He was William Darcy and was expected to have sense. The problem was that he would continue to steal glances towards the gym entrance each time a new person would come inside. He'd send glares towards anyone who'd start asking him questions. Only Charles and Richard, however, seemed to be immune to them.

Richard was a couple years older than Will and was his closest confidant. However, he was regretting on sharing what little information he did give to his cousin. The older man always found humor in Darcy's unease and liked to find opportunities to laugh at his awkward cousin.

Determined to focus on his stretches, William sat down and began his warm up. From his position, he could still see the entrance. His quick look up and frown before looking away again hadn't escaped his observant cousin.

It was just another couple who entered. They, no doubt, were among the majority of the gym's members who only paid for the gym as a motivation to work out, but only came out once a month. There were several of those people wandering about today in fact. He could always tell from their confused expressions as they tried to figure out how a machine worked. Some would be wandering around for five minutes trying to find that one machine that they knew how to work and then spend the rest of their time on the treadmill for a mile walk before calling it a day. The other group of gym members, who were more frequent, consisted mostly of women. Several of which would spend their time watching Will and his friends during their workout while doing their treadmill exercise.

Their stares always made Will feel uneasy.

' _Like predators just waiting to pounce on their prey.'_ Darcy shivered.

"Worried she won't come?" Richard finally asked, sitting down beside Will to stretch his legs.

"I don't know who you're referring to." Darcy lied, though he knew he wasn't fooling the other man.

Both men were tall and had long legs. They ran through the stretches, taking their time to get loose. Georgiana would always tease them that if they continued to work out so much, they wouldn't be able to cross their legs anymore.

"I'm sorry Darcy, but you aren't fooling me or anyone else who's seen you glancing constantly at the door. Elizabeth will no doubt get here soon."

"I never said I was looking for her." Will frowned.

"Sure you weren't." Richard rolled his eyes and got to his feet.

Charles arrived, already dressed and carrying his notebook for his work out under his arm. For a man who was usually the first to arrive at everything if he had his way, he was the last to show up today. He had his phone in hand, looking at the screen with a bright smile on his face.

"Is Caroline giving you trouble this early in the morning today?" asked Richard with a knowing grin.

"Huh?" Charles looked up from his phone finally, "Oh, no. I wasn't on the phone with Carrie, but with someone else." His smile somehow managed to grow wider as he dropped down to the ground to do his warm-up stretch.

William knew from that expression alone that it wouldn't take long before Charles was telling them the person's identity. He also had a pretty good guess of who that was.

"Well, you're dying to tell us, so out with it." Richard chuckled.

"It was Jane." Charles almost sounded like he was sighing like a lovesick puppy when he said her name.

"Not sure I've heard her name mentioned before." Richard turned to look at Will and then back at Charles, "When did you meet her?"

"At the last tournament. She was there with Elizabeth. They're sisters. Jane is the eldest and she's everything wonderful and more. Her smile is so infectious."

"You both have that in common." Richard smiled.

"I doubt it would be that hard to make you smile Charles, it's like your resting face." Will murmured.

"Unlike yours which scares people sometimes." Richard laughed.

The oncoming banter between the cousins was halted by Charles's phone vibrating and the man looked at his screen again eagerly.

"You know coach has a rule about phones during practice." Will frowned, but wasn't really upset. Who could be with the excited younger man?

"I know, but I couldn't finish my conversation with Jane. I thought it would be rude to just leave her hanging." Charles looked at the text message, and his smile disappeared. He sighed, "It's Caroline. Apparently, she is 'feeling motivated' and is coming by the gym to work out for a while."

"No doubt she'll be dragging your other sister and her husband along to keep her company." Richard snorted.

The men talked with each other until Caroline arrived with Mr. and Mrs. Hurst following her. In all her contrivance, she must've searched every workout clothing line store in the neighboring towns to have her whole outfit complete in neon orange. Richard mumbled something about her being able to stop traffic with her ridiculous outfit and Charles could only shake his head.

Caroline joined the men with what she thought was a convincing casual 'bump in' meeting.

None of the men were fooled and Darcy did his best to ignore her, being the main recipient of her effusions.

She praised him for winning best male lifter and said he looked as great of shape as ever. Will did his best to answer in one or two words, but it seemed impossible for her to exhaust any topic before slipping in a new one.

"Caroline," Coach Darcy said as he walked up to the group with his own notebook in hand. A ready frown was directed towards her, "Unless you are wanting to join us in the sport of powerlifting, I suggest you allow us to begin our practice _without_ distractions."

Caroline backed down with as much dignity as she could muster after being shut down by the elder Mr. Darcy. William gave his father a silent 'thanks' and the older man just chuckled.

"It seems Lizzie hasn't arrived yet." He looked over the small group. His voice didn't hide his disappointment.

"We can get started, she might have had trouble finding the place," Richard suggested.

Coach Darcy nodded and took them over to the free weights where they were to do squats for the day.

(P)

Elizabeth hated that she was running late on her first day!

' _So much for making a good impression.'_ She mused.

Because she had to wait until Jane got off work for a ride, she was going to be cutting it close. Their route, however, was met with traffic and then an accident. She was grateful she was saved from talking, with Jane on her Bluetooth, talking to Charles. In hindsight, she could've asked Jane to tell Charles that she was going to be running late, but then, she didn't want to interrupt their cuteness.

When they reached the gym, Jane said her farewells before putting the car back into drive and pulling away. Lizzie stood outside of the Pemberley Gym feeling overwhelmed by its high glass walls. She could see that it was three levels and that there was a rock wall inside. The money to pay for a membership here was more than she could afford even for a month!

Taking a deep breath, she walked through the sliding doors and was hit with cool air as she made her way in. The front desk had two employees sitting. They each were wearing a Pemberly Gym staff shirt and a name tag. The pair gave her questioning looks, probably guessing she wasn't a member with her worn t-shirt and the pair of shorts she had when she was in college.

Not knowing where to go, she walked up to the desk and smiled, "Hello, I was told I could come in today by Mr. Darcy."

The staff looked at each other before looking to Elizabeth. They didn't seem to believe her in the slightest.

"And you are?" asked one of the staff, the woman. She tried to sound polite, but Lizzie had no doubt the woman was ready to call security or something.

 _Did they have security for this place?_

"Eliz—"

"Miss Bennet." Came a voice a few feet away, interrupting her.

It was Darcy, the younger one. William. He strode over to them and looked from her to the people at the desk. "She is a personal guest of my dad's. Give her a temporary pass." He instructed.

"Yes, sir." Said the man, getting up to do as he was told and soon returned with the temporary membership card.

"Thanks." Elizabeth smiled.

William withheld the urge to puff up his chest with the surge of accomplishment at having helped her, but the feeling itself didn't last long because the rest of the group was coming over and Bingley and Richard were soon taking over the conversation.

Though Charles had recently gotten off the phone with Jane, he still asked after her. Once Lizzie was finished on giving an account of her sister, Richard stepped forward to introduce himself.

"Please to meet the famous Ms. Bennet." He said with a wide grin.

Lizzie arched an eyebrow in confusion, "I don't believe I'm famous. Not even remotely so. I'm no one really."

"Oh, I have to disagree with you there. To have Darcy interested in you, you must be truly something."

 _She has no idea just how special she is to get Will to like her._ Richard smiled.

Guessing he was referring to the older Darcy, she didn't think anything of it. "Please just call me Lizzie. You're Richard Fitzwilliam correct."

"Does my reputation precede me?"

"I'm afraid so. You were in the latest issue of the sports magazine. I mean the whole of Pemberley was, but they did do an interview with you that I read." While the Darcy men did Powerlifting, Richard Fitzwilliam did CrossFit. He did, however, train with them when he got the chance.

"I'm glad to hear I have such a beautiful fan." He mused.

Will scowled at his cousin, "I doubt it," He muttered under his breath.

Richard only gave him a teasing look before offering to show Lizzie where the women's locker was located. As they walked ahead of Charles and Will, Richard looked over his shoulder and gave his cousin a satisfied grin.

"Bitch." He murmured.

"Jerk." He could almost read the mouthed words his cousin sent him.

William, Charles, and Richard worked on their warm-up rounds for squats while Coach Darcy talked to Lizzie on the side at the other free weight bar. Their private practice was located in a free weights room on the second floor. It only had the windows looking outside and not one indoors looking in so there wouldn't be any distractions. They discussed her previous attempts she had done in practice and the ones she did during the tournament. Darcy had gotten a copy of the tournament, something he usually did for the men's but got one for Lizzie so she could study it.

Lizzie did her best to laugh off the awkwardness of seeing herself nearly failing on her second attempt. Darcy stopped the video and drew on his iPad where her legs were not fully in position. Then played it to watch in a different viewing camera. Her back wasn't straight.

"This is good though." George smiled down at her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "We see what we need to fix and we can start there. You have the basics down. We just need you to not lose focus on the main goal which is maintaining your posture to prevent injuries. How did you feel the next day?"

"A little sore. Well, kind of a lot, but I made sure to stretch and cool down right when I got home."

"That's always important to do. Now, why don't we get you started on warming up with the bar? I will set up a camera so you can use this for review later."

Lizzie nodded and got into position by the steel bar.

William watched her, too distracted from his position next to the window to hear Charles call the next weight he was lifting.

"Will? Hey, I said I need another forty-five." Charles repeated.

William pushed himself away from his spot and strolled over to the rack where the heavier weights were stored. Richard had already loaded the other side of the bar.

"You know," Richard said with a devilish grin, "you could go over there and offer to spot her."

William glared at Richard, not giving him the satisfaction of replying. He only turned and walked back to his spot. Looking out the window, he could see below him to the other floors since the floor wasn't completely covering the one below it. Instead of looking outside or at the people on the treadmills, he watched the reflection of Lizzie who was getting ready to complete her next warm-up.

To Will's annoyance, once Charles was done with his set and it was his turn, the other man walked over to talk to Lizzie.

How was it that it was easy for everyone to talk to her except him? He had done it when she had first arrived, but that was with great effort. His heart was racing the entire time for some reason he didn't understand and when she had smiled at him, he was sure his heart stopped.

"So Lizzie, your sister brought you here right?" asked Charles while she was taking a break between sets.

"Yeah, she said she'd pick me up when I was finished."

"That seems ridiculous to have her drive all the way here and then back. Why don't I drop you off?"

Lizzie frowned in confusion, "I was led to believe that you didn't live anywhere near us."

"True, but what does that matter. I like a good road trip. Jane sent me this audible that she liked and it will give me time to start it. Reading is not my thing, but I'm great at listening."

The two laughed and talked a few minutes before Lizzie had to do her next set. Coach Darcy and Charles helped to load the bar and then Charles offered to spot for her.

William watched his friend, feeling a bit betrayed. He could barely concentrate on walking back to the stand once he had finished his squat. As Richard helped him to set the bar back down, he whispered to Will, "And that could've been you."

"Would you quit it already?" William growled, "You're acting like I like her or something."

"Well, it ain't indifference that's for sure. I've seen that William and this one is smitten."

"I'm not smitten." Will gritted his teeth.

"Then what would you call it?" asked Richard, arms crossed over his chest with one eyebrow raised.

"Interested, _but_ only in a professional way as a fellow competitor."

"How does that work?" snorted the older man.

"I don't know. She's just different from the others, that's all."

"Different being she doesn't fawn over you?"

"That too.

"Well, I like her." Richard grinned which was of course answered by William's glare. "Hey, if you aren't going to do anything about it, then she's free."

"I hate you right now." William moved away from the bar and back to his window.

Once the squats were over, they returned downstairs to do the rest of their work out on the machines. Charles talked to Lizzie for about half of the time. William was of course forced into his cousin's company, which while it wasn't the other twenty women in the room, it still wasn't the person he wanted.

Darcy had been silently observing the practice. He watched the boys in their attempts, offering suggestions and encouragements. He then spent time on coming up with a routine for Lizzie while she was working with them. Lizzie told him that she wasn't sure she could make every practice because of the commute, but he told her not to worry about it, and if she didn't mind, he could have someone pick her up.

Someone else George was paying close attention to, was his son. He hadn't seen his son so interested in another girl before, that he wished to try and encourage him. The only problem was that William was shy, taking after his mother. Hell would be close to freezing over before that boy spoke up.

 _Maybe if they were in each other's company more?_

His scheme was to have Will pick her up for practice. That way, they'd have almost an hour, more if traffic was really bad, to talk and get somewhere.

 _Maybe I've been spending too much time in my sister-in-law's company? I sound just like her trying to make matches._ Coach Darcy chuckled.

"Do you need a ride home, Lizzie?" asked George Darcy, ready to offer his son to drive her home.

"Charles actually offered to give me a ride." Lizzie smiled.

The look of surprise quickly disappeared off his face when he remembered that Charles was smitten with Lizzie's sister. No doubt earning sister points.

He nodded and wished her a safe trip. Handing over the videos, he told her to study them and read the notes he had made. She promised she would and the two made their way towards the entrance of the gym.

William watched only for a minute before frowning and making his way towards the locker room. Richard sauntered over to his uncle with a mischievous grin on. He swung an arm around the older man's shoulder.

"I do believe Will has been bitten by the 'bug'."

"The 'bug'?" George looked at his young nephew.

"The love bug. And knowing him, he needs all the help he can get. Meaning we need to help him."

"We do?"

"Yes, you, me and even Georgie. She'll be able to get closer, being a female."

"What's your reward in all of this?"

"Can it not be because I love my family?" Richard asked innocently. After a brief moment he became serious, "He needs someone in his life. Someone who will be there to comfort him when _it_ happens."

"The cancer isn't going to take me yet."

"I know, but wouldn't you want to see Will happily married before then?" Richard sighed. "It would be a whole lot easier if you told Will and Georgie the truth."

"They already believe that I beat the cancer last year and you saw what happened when they thought they would lose me the first time. When I only have a half a year left, then I'll tell them, but for now you better keep my secret."

"You know I will. Though it gives me little pleasure."


End file.
